The HHSO office will be closed December 25-January 1. You can purchase tickets or make a year-end donation at hhso.org

FROM THE BOARD ROOM

Happy Holidays everyone!  You may be taking a breather to focus on the other events of the season along with your visiting family and friends, or you may be preparing to travel to a loved one’s abode for a brief visit to enjoy the season.  But after the rush of a seemingly very busy series of Fall performances, you might consider that the HHSO will also take a breath and a break from performing for a few weeks.  NOT TRUE!!   While we recently finished the year with our final 2023 Coastal Home Supper Club event, “Holiday Folderol,” at SoundWaves, we are already gearing up for the first half of 2024 and the remainder of the Orchestra’s 42^nd season.

Just think of the many events that can brighten your family’s days and evenings with the wonderful music of the HHSO musicians playing the likes of Bach, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Grieg, and Brahms, among others. Those of you who want a more modern flair should sign up for John Williams’ Birthday Celebration in February as well as Tessa Lark’s fantastic violin performances in April.  Did I mention everything? Not at all! There is far more to enjoy between now and the end of the season.  If your calendar does not yet have the dates of the events I just mentioned, just call us and we will fill your book with the dates and times of these and other events flooding our performance schedule between January and April.

Those of you who already have these performances on your calendar, don’t stop there.  We also are going to enjoy the many offerings in the BRAVOPIANO! festival, featuring some of the world’s best jazz and classical pianists, starting in late February and running into the first week of March, 2024.  In addition, the year would not be complete without the Chamber Music Institute, which will bring together amazingly talented high school string players who will delight us with a week of performances under the guidance of outstanding collegiate instructors.

I didn’t mention, by any means, all the events you can enjoy—at Sunday Coastal Home Supper Clubs or Tuesday Gullah Cultural Series presentations at SoundWaves or the events throughout the island at other venues such as First Presbyterian Church, and other sites such as St. Luke’s Anglican Church and Lowcountry Celebration Park, as well as the Cypress or Tidepointe.

Come join my wife, Sue, and me for these wonderful musical delights during the next months.  You will not be disappointed.  I look forward to seeing you.

—Mike Harter, Chairman, Board of Directors

From the SoundWaves Studio

Neil Diamond, The Great Gatsby, and more!

With the conclusion of a bustling month of holiday music at SoundWaves, we find time for reflection and to express gratitude for the extraordinary music we have been able to enjoy this Fall: Gullah Cultural Series events, HHIPC Piano Recitals, Coastal Home Supper Club, and our newest mini-series, Broadway Icons. It has been blissful to augment the Symphony Orchestra’s musical offerings with these dynamite performances. Gullah Cultural Series touched us with reverent Watch Night and Kwanzaa traditions, local talents Folderol delighted all with a flirtatious holiday Coastal Home Supper Club presentation, and Broadway Icons came to a rousing close with Alysha Umphress bringing down the house in a brilliant program that included “I Get A Kick Out Of You,” “100 Ways To Lose A Man,” and “Little Jazz Bird.” We extend special thanks to American Traditions Competition Artistic and Executive Director Mikki Sodergren for this collaboration and to Lou and Karin Tosado for underwriting this series.

Each singer on Broadway Icons performed “She Used To Be Mine” from Waitress.
Which was your favorite?

Upon reflection, we also look ahead with eager anticipation for our next chapter of great musical performances. On the horizon in 2024, SoundWaves will host a Gullah Cultural Series event that will spotlight Native Island Business and Community Affairs Association’s month-long Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration and enlighten us all to the NIBCAA organization: how it started, why it exists, and how it promotes the multi-generational native island Gullah traditions and culture. This is a must see/hear event that will dovetail with the month-long Gullah Celebration in February. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, February 6^th. We are thrilled to continue this community partnership with Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, The Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island, and Native Island Business and Community Affairs Association.

We will also continue our three-year run of sold-out Coastal Home Supper Club performances with Portland Oregon’s Tony Starlight and his Neil Diamond Experience program, lauded as the finest Neil Diamond Tribute in the country. It also may be the funniest. Two performances of this one are scheduled: Saturday, January 13^th and Sunday, January 14^th. Then, Supper Club guiding star Gretchen Kristine Stelzer returns February 11^th with Recapturing the 1920’s Gatsby Era, an energetic throwback program highlighting hit musicals from, and films set in, the 1920’s, including songs from Cabaret, Chicago, and The Great Gatsby.

Finally, remember, when you are out and about town, tell your friends: I’ll see you at SoundWaves!

—Mario Incorvaia, Chief Operating Officer

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Upcoming Events 

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2023-2024 Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors